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29 Apr 2014

Patrick Boll

Here's Playbill.com's weekly "Last Chance" reminder to catch Broadway, Off-Broadway and world-premiere productions before they take a final bow.

Concluding May 4

The Velocity of Autumn (Broadway at the Booth Theatre). Eric Coble's new family drama The Velocity of Autumn stars Academy Award winner and 2014 Tony nominee Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella. "The Velocity of Autumn swirls around Alexandra, a 79-year-old artist in a showdown with her family over where she'll spend her remaining years," press notes state. "In Alexandra's corner are her wit, her volcanic passion and the fact that she's barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to take out the block. But her children have their own secret weapon: estranged son Chris who returns after 20 years, crawls through Alexandra's second floor window, and becomes the family's unlikely mediator. No sooner are the words 'Hi, Mom' uttered than the emotional bombs start detonating. The Velocity of Autumn is a wickedly funny and wonderfully touching discovery of the fragility and ferocity of life." Visit VelocityOfAutumnBroadway.com.

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Bill W. and Dr. Bob (Off-Broadway at the Soho Playhouse). Bill W. and Dr. Bob, Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey's play about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, stars Patrick Boll as Bill Wilson opposite Steve Brady as Dr. Bob Smith. Here's how the work is billed: "In 1929, Bill Wilson, a famous New York stockbroker, crashes with the stock market, becoming a miserable drunk. Meanwhile, Dr. Bob Smith, a surgeon in Akron, has been an alcoholic for thirty years, often going into the operating room with a hangover. Both are isolated, alone, and on the brink of death. Through an astonishing series of events, the two men are brought together and, realizing that 'the only thing that can keep a drunk sober is telling his story to another drunk,' forge a relationship. They help each other stay sober, and then pass on what they've learned to others. Nearly eight decades later, having never promoted itself, AA spans over 170 countries, with an estimated total of over 114,000 groups and more than two million members worldwide. Bill W. and Dr. Bob goes beyond the lives of Bill and Bob and their wives, and looks at how communities can come together to heal themselves and find direction and purpose that can help millions." Visit BillWAndDrBob.org.